Food Giant Supermarket

I am a big fan of Whole Foods, but am far from the typical grocery store snob. I’ve been to all stores in the area. Some days I feel like a Milam’s stop, while other days I need a quick can of peas or bag of sugar from the local Kwik-​E-​Mart. I have to say, since moving to Miami back in 2003, I’ve been to Food Giant in North Bay Village (now part of the Presidente market chain) quite a few times. Each visit would leave me feeling like I need to take a bath and/​or get a tetanus shot. After my recent visit this past weekend, I have a completely new opinion of this place. My husband is Brazilian and this is one of the only stores that has a true butcher that offers up the cuts of meat that Brazilians like to grill (picanha, linguica etc). Presidente still has the butcher — only new and improved! Instead of beef haphazardly strewn around the meat case, everything is well organized, much cleaner and they have more variety like large shrimp, squid tubes and tuna steaks. In addition, the cafeteria section showcases some very yummy looking Latin favorites like picadillo, yuca with mojo, plantains, beans, rice, salads, roast pork. The bakery case was full of good looking Latin and traditional American sweets too. Man, all of it looked great! I could tell they seriously cleaned up the place and did some renovations. I no longer felt the need to shower after my visit. Quite the contrary! I kept walking up and down the aisles and took my time to look at the wide array of international products and marveled at the cheap beer/​wine prices. 12 limes for a buck… WHAT?! Caipirinha Time!

Check the expiration dates, as they are often expired at this store.

This market is near us and we wanted to check it out since the Publix across the street closed for a year. :-p Nothing to write home about but they have the basics. The store is pretty small but the produce section is actually surprisingly robust and the quality decent for such a small neighborhood grocery.

Quite possibly one of the worst supermarkets I have stepped foot in. The meat prices are indeed cheap but look at your meat carefully because that cheap price is for a reason. Don’t get me wrong, I have never gotten food poisoning or anything but I have bought milk on several occasions just to get home and find that even tough the milk is prior to its exp. date, it has gone sour. NOTHING WORSE THAN SOUR MILK!!!
I go here because it is walking distance from my house. Oh and the newest development in this crap hole, is EMPTY SHELVES. Products are straight up missing, whole sections are empty. Do they not have $ to restock the shelves? I went last week and it seemed they had fired everyone and one weirdo old dude was the register… ONLY ONE REGISTER OPEN! My husband and I have concluded that this place has to be some kind of front for laundering $ or something else shady. Something is not right in this place… ???

A-​ok for everything. I came here last night and they were out of everything. I know it was rather late but they were out of everything. They had no chillis. I end up buying the closes thing to it, Cubanelle Peppers (banana peppers) for my ceviches. It was lacking the heat I wanted.

Prices on meats at this store are some of the cheapest ever. I’ve seen chicken leg quarters dirt cheap — something like $ 0.37/lb. That being said, I bought ground beef here once and it was not fresh at all. The taste was just… no, thank you. Needless to say, I’ve never bought meat again from this Food Giant and probably never will again.
For staples and snacks, it’s more expensive than other stores. It’s actually cheaper for me to buy things like pasta sauce, cheese and chips at Publix, of all places. I know it’s a smaller chain and that’s probably why they have to charge a little more but my wallet can’t afford to sympathize.
One thing I will praise about this store is that around holidays, they are WIDE open. For last minute stuff when you run out of ingredients like sugar or flour the evening before Thanksgiving, they can be a life-​saver!

So no, this place isn’t five star as in Publix or Fresh Market, but it IS five star for prices and variety. The meats and produce are mostly where you see the five-​star-​ness. Plantains 4 for .99, packs of skinless drumsticks for $ 4, sausages done Spanish, Nica, Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Argentine-​style, all for reasonable prices. Packs of steaks and other cuts of beef for $ 4, when I know the same thing is $ 8 at Winn Dixie. Plus they have all of those yummy pork odds and ends we use to flavor our foods, smoked, fatty, whatever (pork belly cut Colombian style, smoked turkey necks, ground sausage, and pig feet for those who like em). Cheap Italian sliced meats (sopressatta and sandwich pepperoni and salamis for about $ 2.50…double elsewhere). Huge selection of jams, jellies, and preserves, and giant cans of coconut milk for $ 2.75 (the size is over three times a standard can and it’s Goya brand). They even sell La Fe brand casabe for all of your out there who actually like the stuff. They also have a large selection of those yummy Brazilian treats we all love (Garoto and the one that starts with a «b» and has a «d» in it somewhere that makes good treats popular in Latin America lol)
The butcher section is crazy! Fresh sausages and just about anything you could possibly desire. Meat variety is insane and prices are a steal and it’s so worth the drive from South Miami to stock up. We’re talking half the price on some meats even compared to Winn Dixie.
Another plus… they’re ice cream section is actually not full of containers completely covered in ice and therefore freezer burnt as I’ve seen in many other stores all over Miami, such as Winn Dixie and Sedanos.

food giant is the place to go for meats. perfect place to visit before a bbq party. flank steak sells at 3.50 $ a pound. wide array of argentinian chorizos and other classic asado cuts.
they also have an good bakery and lots of brazilian products. lots of argentine products too. their prices are great, way cheaper than publix or winn dixie.

This must be an area with Brazillians and Argentinians, because this Food Giant has a good selection of their meats. Churrasco here is ¹⁄₃ the price at publix, and available in big slabs. Whole picanhas, an array of sausages and probably other groceries are available too.